


Knit in my rink

by ICanSeeClearlyNow



Series: Yuri On Ice Oneshots [2]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Knitting, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, sorry about the title
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-23 03:36:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13181535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ICanSeeClearlyNow/pseuds/ICanSeeClearlyNow
Summary: Mila has a secret hobby, she loves to knit, but she doesn’t want to appear uncool in front of her rink-mates as she has a reputation to maintain ... until she finds Sara in the wool shop in Sochi and they realise they have a secret in common.





	Knit in my rink

Mila checked her phone, thank goodness the shop was still open until 7pm, Yakov had made them stay late again as Victor was moping about Katsuki Yuuri who he hadn’t heard from since the banquet and Yuri was being a major pain about it.  Neither of them were concentrating properly and Yakov had lost his patience, again.  She had to admit that some of it might be her fault.  She may have put some coals on the fire of Yuri’s anger, just a bit, so she wasn’t that annoyed with Yakov, he had a lot to get exasperated about.  She quickly showered and changed and picked up her bag. 

“Hey, Mila, are you coming out this evening? We’re all going to this new club that’s opened, except Yuri of course, because he’s a child.”  Victor called out.

“Oi!  At least I behave like a fucking adult sometimes, unlike some people around here.”  Yuri yelled furiously, he still hadn’t forgiven Victor for ignoring him for days.

“I’d love to, text me where and when.”  She called back, waving at them as she left the building.  She looked back to make sure that they weren’t paying her any attention and dived off down the side street that led to the embankment.  Thankfully the shop was still open and she ripped off her home-made beanie and undid her homemade scarf as stifling heat of the shop hit her in the face.  Her rink-mates had no idea of her secret hobby, and she pretended that anything she knitted was all her grandmother’s doing.

“Mila! Darling! the voice called from the back of the shop.”

“Babushka!”  Mila rushed through and hugged the little old lady over the counter of the shop.  “I got your message.” She waved her phone, “I’m so glad you got the hang of it!”

The white haired lady raised her eyebrows, “I may be old my dear, but I’m not stupid.  It’s not difficult to work out.”  Mila grinned.  Having bought her grandmother to get a mobile phone and shown her how to use it, Mila was surprised by how quickly her grandmother had taken to the new technology.  “I want to ask you how to set up a website for the shop, and all about instagram.  You keep talking about it after all and I’ve set myself up an account, but I want some advice on the best way to do it.”

Mila’s jaw dropped.  “Babushka!  That’s amazing.  I can come over and help tomorrow.  Yakov’s given us the day off.  He says we’ll all be too hungover from night clubbing to skate and there’s no point forbidding us because we’d just go anyway.”

“Well!  Where is it?”  She said with her hands on the counter and bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

“Patience, patience.”  She reached under the counter and pulled out a large clear plastic wrapped package of wool with a picture on the front.  The colours were vibrant and beautiful.

“Oh!  I can’t wait to get started!  When I heard that Kaffe Fassett had another design out, I knew I just had to get it.”

“Well - it should keep you occupied for a few months.”

“Probably only until after the world championships.”

“This is a difficult one.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”  Her grandmother looked over the top of her glasses at Mila and smiled.

“Baba! I thrive on difficult challenges.”  She leaned over the counter again to give the old lady a hug and and kiss and waved goodbye.

Reaching her apartment she unwrapped the pattern and wool.  Hugging each fluffy ball up to her face and sniffing the wool.  She giggled, if only Yuri could see her now, he’d have a fit.  She’d never live it down.  Sighing, she put all the wool away in the cupboard in her bedroom.  She couldn’t have anyone showing up and outing her after all.

~

As the winter wore on the blanket gradually took shape, with the emphasis on gradually.  Mila was determined to win at both skating and the blanket.  Unfortunately the blanket was winning at the moment.  Unable to take her needles out in the breaks between skating sessions she could only knit at home or in her hotel room.  It was the most relaxing thing she did, apart from being on the ice with no pressure and just messing around.  Following the complex pattern and producing a beautiful piece of art was almost as fulfilling as winning an ice skating competition.  The European championships passed and just managed to gain a Silver medal, beating Sara Crispino who finished with a Bronze.  The squares for the blanket grew in number as they progressed to the World Championships.

The cheers were loud as Mila skated round the rink collecting a couple of the roses thrown onto the ice.  She smiled, she knew she had performed well.  Yakov was waiting at the gate and patted her on the shoulder.  A personal best in her short program.  She hugged Yakov, grinning madly and waving at the camera.  She mouthed ‘I love you Baba’ into the camera, knowing that her Grandmother watched every single one of her competitions.

She blindly went through her interview with the press, itching to get back to her room and just finish those final two rows on that last square.  No one was having a night out or a party in between the short program and the free so she could be undisturbed the whole evening.

~

Music at a fairly high volume and sitting cross-legged on the bed Mila heaved a sigh of relief.  A personal best score and a finished blanket, well, apart from all the blocking and sewing together, but that can wait until she’s at home again.  She laid out the square on her knee, smoothing and patting it fondly.  She was itching to post the picture on her secret instagram account, but most of the squares were at home, it would have to wait.  Meanwhile, a good night’s sleep wouldn’t go amiss, it was the men’s short program skate tomorrow so she had plenty of time in the morning to go shopping.

Mila was already up when her phone dinged with a new message from her Grandmother.  She smiled to herself as she opened the messages;

~

Today 07:10

 _I’ve been waiting until after 7am your time to message you._  
I’ve made you a little something to celebrate your win!  
[image of two tiny knitted glittering skates as a keychain charm]

Letting out a gasp of laughter, Mila quickly typed in a response.

 _Those are so cute!  I love them!  Thanks Babuschka!  I love you too!_  
I’m going to need another project, I’ve finished all the squares for the blanket.  
There’s a shop here I want to visit, do you need me to gather any ideas for you?

_Only if the shop can’t survive without them.  
I can do my own research these days. _

_Babuschka - I’m so proud of you!_

_Tch!  Enjoy yourself._

_~_

She found the first shop quite easily, thank goodness for map apps, and pushing open the door of the shop breathed in that heavenly smell of new wool and books.  This was the smallest one she had found on the internet and looked like it was run by an enthusiast and not a corporation.  Greeting the shop owner, she looked around, there was still time before the morning practice session to browse a little.  There, over in the corner, that adorable beanie hat with the cat ears, Yuri would hate it or love it, most of the time you couldn’t tell.  Bouncing over to have a closer look and bending down to scrunch the balls of fluff in the shelves, she didn’t notice the door to the shop opening again.  The cold blast of air was noticeable though since she had removed her hat and scarf.

“Mila?”  Mila stiffened.  Shit!  But that was Sara’s voice, and she was also in a wool shop.

“Sara!”  Mila turned and smiled at Sara.  “Good to see you.  What are you doing here?”

“I … er, my grandmother asked me to pick up some wool for her when I was passing a shop.”  Sara waved her arms randomly and her cheeks coloured slightly.  Mila bit her lip.  Oh really?

“That’s funny, I was just looking for some wool to take back to my grandmother as a present.  Maybe we could look together?”

“That … would be great!  Does your grandmother do a lot of knitting?”  

“Loads, whenever I go over to see her there’s always some project on the go.”  Mila’s phone dinged with a message.  She smiled an apology at Sara who turned to look at the shelves of wool and swiped the message from her Grandmother.

~

Today 10:00

 _Mila, dearest, I have the new patterns and wool in from_  
that British company you like so much,  
do you want me  
to put it on one side to pick up when you get home?  Baba

_That’s brilliant Babuschka!  Please!  Love you!_

~

Smiling fondly to herself Mila looked up from the phone and jumped when she saw Sara reading over her shoulder.  Sara looked up and winked at her.  Flinging an arm around Mila’s shoulders she grinned manically.

“I think we both have a little confession to make, don’t we?”

“Oh God!”  Putting her hand over her eyes Mila nodded.

“Why do we feel we have to hide it?  What the hell is wrong with enjoying knitting?”  Sara’s eyes sparkled.  Mila felt a pull in her chest and smiled back.

“Exactly.  Come on, let’s shop.”

~

The shop was full of fascinating new brands and interesting pattern books, and the owner was a complete knitting nerd like Mila and Sara .

Mila turned to the owner of the shop, “Can you recommend anywhere that does decent coffee.”  Mila asked and then to Sara, “Do you want to get a coffee? We’ve been here an hour.”  Mila asked.

“Sure.  That would be great!”

The coffee shop the owner had recommended was only 2 blocks over and on the way back to their hotel.  Mila couldn’t stop smiling.  She’d always liked Sara and wanted to get to know her better, but Sara’s brother was always an overbearing presence in the background.

“So, is Michele competing this year?”

“Yes, but he’s practicing all morning and I refused to go and watch, I’ll see him later when I watch the men’s free skate.”

“A morning to yourself then?  I’m glad we ran into one another.”

“I’m glad we did too, I can’t believe that you like knitting too, Michele thinks it’s really uncool and just for women.”

“What!  Doesn’t he know that some of the top designers are men?”

“I know, I know.  I think he thinks that he has to keep up this ridiculous macho image the whole time.”

Mila looked down and stirred her coffee thoughtfully, “as far as I know none of the Russian team know that it’s my hobby, and I plan to keep it that way.  God, I can’t think what that brat Yuri Plisetsky would do with that information, Victor would have a field day.  I can just imagine.”  She put her finger up to her lips and smiled Victor’s smile, drawing a breath she tried to imitate Victor’s voice as much as possible, “Mila, are you knitting your next costume, that will be a way to surprise your audience.”  Mila giggled and when she looked back at Sara, she had her hand over her mouth and her eyes were dancing with merriment.  They looked at each other for a second and then broke out into howls of laughter.  “You … you could imagine the looks on the judge’s faces.”  Tears were rolling down her face and Sara snorted.  She actually snorted with laughter.  Her hands flew up to her face as she flushed bright red.  Mila felt her heart give a jump, Sara was adorable.  She quickly raised her coffee cup to hide her expression.  With no idea how Sara felt, Mila didn’t want to ruin the friendship they’d discovered by making any advances this early.

~

Today 18:30

It was a great morning

thanks

Thanks to you my secret ally

I’ve had an idea

Go on

Next season  
Let’s come clean  
Let’s show them that we’re not afraid of them

I never have been afraid of them  
It’s just ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

I know I know  
Nvm the boys are starting

 

Today 21:23

Victor was soooo good  
He looked so sad

You know he’s still pining  
after that Katsuki guy from  
the banquet in December

Really?

Yeah, they didn’t exchange  
numbers and Katsuki  
Yuuri just vanished

Oh dear

It completely enrages the little kitten  
Victor’s so lost in all this pining that  
he doesn’t pay him any attention at all

I hope they haven’t been  
Giving you a hard time

They’re easy enough to ignore  
Or wind up as the opportunity arises ;)

:)

~

**Author's Note:**

> This was a little idea that popped out as part of NaNoWriMo. I intended it to be a chaptered story, but at the moment I can't see where it's going so I'm publishing it as a complete one-shot. Hopefully the brain fog will clear and it will be expanded at some point, but the rating will stay at General.
> 
> Please let me know what you think as this felt weird to write, almost as if I'm outing myself ;), kudos and comments always make my day!
> 
> My tumblr is [@narcissuspseudonarcissus](https://narcissuspseudonarcissus.tumblr.com)


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